Silence & Speak
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1694b: Now firmly within their relationship and in all happiness, Grace contemplates telling her mother the truth about her girlfriend. - Sunshine Girls 2 series


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 80th cycle. Now cycle 81!_

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**"Silence & Speak"  
Nora (AU!Beth)/Grace (OC), (Emily (OC; Nellie V.)  
Sunshine Girls 2 series  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_  
**

Grace had come to realize something about her mother one day. Mrs. Mackenna had brought up Ethan, and Grace knew from this that her mother remained under the impression that she was dating him. At first she had to wonder why, but then when looking at the facts her mother would have available, it didn't seem so crazy. She had not yet told her about Nora. At first, she didn't want to jinx it, figured it was better off that they keep it to themselves, but the further time passed, the more she began to wonder if maybe she was afraid of telling her. She was lucky in that her mother wasn't generally all that nosy when it came to her love life, except on the other side it then meant that Grace had it in her to remain vague, whenever the subject did turn up. And she was still friends with Ethan, so that couldn't have helped make things clear for her mother.

Of course the one thing she had to compare her mother's potential reaction to was the way Nora's family had reacted, and it wasn't as though the situation could really be used as a template. Nora's family already knew she was gay, so what they would discover was that Nora had a new girlfriend, who so happened to be that quiet girl from across the street she'd been friends with since they were both eleven, the one they'd had no idea was into girls, too.

They had known what was happening, in some way, ever since the day Grace had planted herself in their backyard to ask for Nora to go out with her. As predicted, the first time she'd been back there had involved some amount of questioning. Nora would have been both ready and willing to lie for her, if she didn't want to say, but then Grace had tapped into that newly found courage and told them, flat out, that she'd asked Nora out, on a date, and she'd said yes, and it was happening the upcoming Friday. A pointed glare from Nora to her parents might have saved Grace from some awkward questions.

Ever since then, as the girls' relationship progressed, they often found themselves hanging out at Nora's house. It felt like the thing to do. Nora's parents were good to her, and once they'd gotten over the shift in their dynamics, it became natural to them that Grace was Nora's girlfriend. If anything, Grace was the one who had more problems about being around them. She lived with the constant 'fear' that they would her and Nora kissing and be upset about it. If she knew they were in the house, she would shy away from any approach Nora made, and if there was any chance that they might walk in, then it was a categorical no.

Then if they were ever at Grace's house, the rules were even stricter. They were there, the afternoon after her mother had made the Ethan comment, when Grace understood her mother's misunderstanding. When she told Nora about it, the blonde's eyes went wide and she smirked.

"You and Ethan?"

"I know, I should tell her, but…" she hesitated.

"But what?" Nora asked.

"What if she doesn't… I mean… She might not…"

"Grace," Nora came to stand in front of her, looked her in the eye. "You and me, are you serious about it?"

"What? Of course I am," she promised, reaching for her hands. Nora smiled.

"Well then she's going to have to know eventually, won't she? If we just keep it hidden, all it will do is make things more complicated than they have to be, and then when she does find out…"

"I know," Grace sighed. "I know…"

"Hey…" Nora brought Grace's chin up with her finger. "No matter what, I'm not going anywhere, so if you need me to go with you, I'll go. If you need to wait a bit longer, we'll wait a bit longer. It's all on your own time," she promised.

Grace kissed her for this. Nora had always been able to reassure her, and hearing her words now, it made her feel like things might be alright after all.

They'd ended up on her bed, Grace underneath as Nora lay over her, kissing her at times tenderly, other times fiercely. Nora's lips travelled down to Grace's neck, more careful than she'd been the last time, when she'd ended up leaving a mark which Grace then had to cover up.

Grace had only just maneuvered her way from the bottom to the top, recapturing Nora's mouth, when she heard the door from downstairs, and she stopped dead in her tracks. Nora had clearly not heard it, as she stretched her head up, trying to find her kiss again.

"No, wait, she's here." Nora was lost for a moment, then she remembered.

"What do you want to do?" she asked, and Grace thought.

"I can't tell her now," she shook her head.

"Alright." They sat up, making sure they looked like they hadn't been doing what they'd just been doing. "Do you need me to go?" Grace didn't want to have to make her leave, but the more she thought about it… "Hey, it's fine," Nora promised her. "I get it. It's not the first time I've climbed down that window anyway." For a moment, they kept sitting there, on Grace's bed, staring at each other. Grace looked at her… her girlfriend… the girl she… the girl she loved… She couldn't keep doing this, couldn't keep hiding. But if she told Nora that she'd changed her mind, she'd offer to stay again, and Grace needed to do this alone.

She kissed her once more, and then she helped her sneak out. Once she'd reached the ground, Nora had waved up at her and hurried off toward home. Grace closed the window, took one deep breath, then another, and then a third. She went to the mirror, making sure she looked alright before going downstairs to speak with her mother. She had gone through too much to get to where she was, and she was tired of living with a lie like she was ashamed. She was so far from that.

THE END

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**____********A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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